Harris considers season huge success'

PHILADELPHIA — By traditional measures, the most common of which is win-loss record, this installment of the 76ers was a failure. Their primary contribution to the game was an epically lengthy losing streak that garnered national media focus.

In the eyes of Joshua Harris, however…

“I think this season’s been a huge success for us,” said Harris, the Sixers’ primary owner. “I don’t like to lose. In terms of having to live through a losing season, it’s tough. It was incredibly fun to take down the Bulls my first year (of ownership, in 2011-12) when we were seeded eighth and they were seeded first.

“I want us to be back in the playoffs and I want this team competing for a championship. That’s what we’re trying to do. To get to that point to be an elite team over time, there are no shortcuts. We came into this season knowing it would be a long season, that we’d be putting building blocks in place.”

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In a meeting with reporters Friday at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Harris addressed all things Sixers, including the performance of first-year coach Brett Brown, this summer’s draft and the eventual erection of a team-owned practice facility.

Harris lauded the aplomb with which Brown guided the Sixers through the season. Understanding how difficult it must have been for Brown, who experienced more than a decade of winning seasons in San Antonio, to have to trudge through a 19-63 campaign, Harris gushed about Brown’s leadership.

“We have a whole set of criterion we judge him by,” Harris said. “He’s getting an A. We’re glad we made that decision last season.”

Brown’s performance, though, will not transform a rebuilding franchise into a winner — at least not by itself. In a development that will be shocking to absolutely no one, the Sixers, Harris said, will be built through the draft. That might help to explain why the owner was so accepting of a season that required tanking.

“We don’t use that term,” he said.

Along the same lines he used to issue a grade for Brown, Harris said he’s confident in general manager Sam Hinkie. Harris is encouraged by the preparation being completed out of public view by Hinkie and the rest of the front office in advance of June’s NBA Draft, in which the Sixers will have two first-round selections and five second-round picks.

“It’s really important,” Harris said. “We’re all thinking about it, the work being done behind the scenes, in terms of who it’s going to be, lots of testing and thought processes and analytics. I’ve been through last year’s draft and the trade deadline with Sam. They’re going to be incredibly focused right now. This is where what they do has the most impact, and this is where as an ownership group you can have the most impact. The preparation that’s going to happen from here until the draft is going to be very, very … it’s a significant amount of preparation.”

The draft will leave the Sixers with workable pieces for their rebuilding effort. When meshed with Michael Carter-Williams, who Harris predicts will be the Rookie of the Year, and a fully rehabbed Nerlens Noel, the Sixers will field an improved product.

One capable of earning a playoff berth? Not even close. Even Harris was reticent to hang a date on when he is expecting the Sixers’ turnaround to be complete.

“It’s going to take time,” he said. “We want to be an elite team competing for the championship as soon as possible. I hate to be non-specific.”

On the practice facility front, Harris did not sound as committed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard location as he has in the past. That tract of ground is still in play, he said, as are “multiple sites” located both within and outside the city limits. Harris expects to make an announcement on the practice facility’s location sometime during the summer, and that its construction would be completed in time for the 2016-17 season.

Additionally, the Sixers are not looking to build an arena independent of the Flyers, with whom they share Wells Fargo Center.

Nor is he interested in selling the Sixers any time soon.

“I don’t think we’re going to sell this investment for a long time,” Harris said. “I expect my kids to be around the Sixers and we’re building this thing for the long run. … This is about bringing success and victory to a team that this city can be proud of, that I can be proud of, that my ownership team can be proud of, that my family can be proud of.”